Timing device.



A. HAMMBRSTEIN.

TIMING DEVIGB.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 29. 1910.

.Patented- Jan. 16, 1912 l/VVENMI? ATTORNEY ARTHUR HAMMERSTEIIL OF NEWYORK, N. Y.

TIMING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 16, 1912.

Application filed March 29, 1910. Serial No. 552,243.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ARTHUR HAMMER- STEIN, acitizen of the United States, and resident of the borough of Manhattan,city, county, vented certain new and useful Improvements in TimingDevices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to devices for timing the cooking or boiling ofcertain foods particularly eggs and has for its object to provide adevice of this character in which the boiling fluid will be withdrawnfrom the food after-a predetermined period of time has passed thusleaving the said food free from the influences of said boiling fluid.

A further object of my invention is to provide a means by which saiddevice may be adjusted to cover varying periods of time for differentcooking purposes.

My invention will be fully described hereinafter and the features ofnovelty will be pointed out in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1is a central sectional view of my improved device showing it in positionin a cooking vessel; Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof; Fig 3 is aperspective view of a slightly different form of my invention and Fig. 4is an enlarged detail view 'of a valve and seat used in my invention.

My improved timing device comprises a receptacle 1 which has an opening2 located in its bottom and at its upper portion is prov1ded with anupwardly extending neck 3 formlng a valve chamber 4 which is connectedwith the atmosphere through the medium of apertures 5 formed in thevertical walls of said neck 3. A valve seat 6 is located in the chamber4 for the accommo- 1 dation of a valve-7 controlling a passage 7 whichestablishes communication between the interior of the receptacle 1 andthe chamber 4. The said valve 7 is provided with an upwardly extendingstem 8 which projects through andv beyond the upper horizontal wall ofthe chamber 4. An annular inwardlyextending flange 9 is formed at the.lowerportion of the chamber 4 and serves to limit the downward movementof the valve 7 and prevent its complete removal from the valve chamber4. The valve seat 6 and flange 9 preferably form parts of a singleseparate structure which is slipped into the lower portion of thechamber 4 and and State of'New York, have 1nis maintained therein bymeans of solder or merely by friction. The receptacle 1 is provided atintervals on its outer periphery with resilient arms 10 which aresecured to the receptacle at 11 by rivets or otherwise and which. extenddownwardly beyond the bottom of said receptacle to form rests orsupports therefor. The said arms 10 further extend upwardly beyond thetop of said receptacle and have their free ends connected by means of asplit ring 12 which together with the top of the receptacle forms abasket or container for the food to be boiled orcooked.

A tube 13 provided near its upper end with an opening 13 is arranged tobe slipped over and supported in an upright position by the neck 3 andis provided near its lower end with apertures 14 adapted to register awith the apertures 5 in said neck as clearly shown in Fig. 1. A plunger15 which may be tubular is slidably mounted in the tube 13 and is of aslightly smaller diameter than said tube13 so as to be capable of asliding movement relatively thereto. The upper end of said plunger 15ifthe same is tubular as shown is closed by a removable cap 16. At itslower end the plunger is provided with an inwardly extending tube 17 ofsmaller diameter than that of the plunger 15 and accommodating a rod 18slidably mounted and frictionally held therein and having indicatingmarks 19produced on its periphery. This rod 18 extends axially of saidtube 15 and is arranged, under certain conditions, to be more fullyexplained hereinafter, to engage with thestem'8 of the valve 7. I A

, In operation, if for instance, it is intended toboil eggs a certainnumber of minutes, the vessel20 containing the water is first placed onthe fire to bring the water to the boiling point. In the meantime theplunger 15 is removed from the tube 13 and the rod 18 withdrawn from ormoved into the tube 17 the required distance, that is until the markindicating the time it is desired to boil the eggs registers with thebottom of the tube 15. Thus if it is desired to boil the eggs 1 watertight so that the horizontal top of the said neck 3 forms the bottom ofthe tube 13 and maintains the water therein. If the water in the vesselhas now begun to boil, the eggs are placed in the basket orcon- 7 tainerformed-by the arms 10, ring 12 and top of receptacle 1, which receptacleis then plunged into the boiling water and forced down in thevesseluntil the lower ends of the arms 10 engage with the bottom of saidvessel. In this position the receptacle is supported in the Vessel withits bottom spaced from the bottom of said vessel and is maintained inthis position by the fric ,tional engagement of the resilient arms 10cushion toiprevent the water from entering the said receptacle. As soonas the receptacle-has been thus placed in position in the vessel 20, theplunger 15 is inserted into the tube 13 and immediately begins todescend, this'descent being slow owing to the resistance of the watercontained inthe tube 13.

As the said plunger thus descends the water will-be displaced therebyand will pass between the plunger 15 and tube 13 out'of the aperture-13into the cooking vessel and the end of the rod 18 will finally engagethe stems .and will open the valve 7. As'the valve 7 is thus opened theair containedin the receptacle 1' will escape through the apertures. 5and '14 and the water in the vessel or most of it will rush into thesaid receptacle 1 through the'opening 2 and leave the eggs freetherefrom. The receptacle 1 with the boiled eggs thereon may now beremoved andthe operation repeated.

It is of course to be understood that there is'suflicient water in thevessel 20, to cover the eggs when the receptacle is placed in positiontherein and further that the receptacle 1 is of sufficient capacity toreceive enough of the water when the valve 7 is opened to positivelyuncover the eggs or other food being timed.

It is to befurther understood that the time it takes the plunger 15 todescend in the tube 13 coupled with the position of the rod 18corresponds to the length of time it is intended to boil the food sothat the end of saidrod 18 will contact with the valve stem and-open thevalve the moment this predetermined period of time has elapsed.

, It will readily be seen that the more the rod 18 is withdrawn from thetube 17 the less time will elapse before the end thereof contacts withthe stem 8 of the valve 7 and vice versa, the more the said rod is movedinwardly the greater the period of time which will pass before'the valve7 is opened.

Instead of filling the tube 13 with water to retard the descent of theplunger 15, the said plunger may be made to fit the tube 13 sufiicientlysnug so that the air contained in said tube will offer a sufiicientresistance Y to prevent the plunger from descending too quickly. Insteadof this particular means for operating the valve 7 other means may besubstituted it being only necessary that said valve is opened after apredetermined space of time has passed. The essential feature of myinvention is the receptacle 1 with In this form the said ation to adaptthe said receptacle for use in v connection with cooking receptacles ofvarying sizes, it being understood that the pressure of these armsagainstt-he. walls of the vessel is always sufficient to overcome thenatural tendency of the waterto lift said receptacle. The split ring ineach case permits said arms to accommodate themselves properly to thesize of the cooking vessel.

With my improvement the water .is thus easily and quickly removed fromthe food in the container so that said food is left free from itsinfluences and properly cooked as desired after the predeterminedinterval of time has elapsed. It is unnecessary in my structuretherefore to depend on spring operated or other mechanism to raise thecontainerand food out of the water, thus doing away with the danger ofsuch complicated mechanism becoming disarranged and inoperative at aninopportune time. The actual mechanism, that is the valve and plunger onwhich the operativeness of my device depends, is of such a simple natureas not to easily be disarranged or disturbed.

Various changes may be made inthe specific construction shown anddescribed within the scope of theclaims without departing from thespirit of my invention.

I claim: 7 I

1. The combination of a container for a liquid, a receptacle'in saidcontainer having two apertures and arranged -to contain a pressuremedium-adapted to control the entrance of the liquid in said containerthrough one aperture and means for normally closing a,

the other aperture maintained in position by the action of the pressuremediumrand arranged to be operated against the action of said pressuremedium to open said. last aperture and permit the pressure medium to escape and the said liquid to freely enter said receptacle after apredetermined period of time has elapsed.

2. The combination of a container for a liquid, a receptacle in saidcontainer having tWo apertures and arranged to contain a.

pressure medium adapted to control the entrance of the liquid in thecontainer through one aperture, means for normally closing the otheraperture and an adjustable device carried by said receptacle foroperating said means to open said last aperture and permit the pressuremedium to escape and the said liquid to freely enter said receptacleafter a predetermined period of time has elapsed.

3. The combination of a container for a liquid, a receptacle in saidcontainer having two apertures and arranged to contain a pressure mediumadapted to control the entrance of the liquid in the container throughone aperture, a valve for closing the other aperture and means carriedby said receptacle for opening said valve to permit the pressure mediumto escape and the said liquid to freely enter said receptacle.

4. The combination of' a receptacle provided with openings, a cylindercarried by said receptacle, a valve controlling one of said openings,and a plunger in said cylinder arranged to open said valve after apredetermined period of time has elapsed.

5. The combination of a receptacle provided with openings, a valvecontrolling one of said openings, and a plunger and adjustable means onsaid plunger arranged to open said valve after a predetermined period oftime has elapsed.

.6. The combination of a receptacle adapted to contain a pressure mediumand provided with openings, means for normally closing one of saidopenings, 2. device for actuating said means after a predeterminedperiod of time has elapsed to free said one opening and relieve thepressure in the receptacle and adjustable means on said actuating devicefor varying the point at which said device operates.

7. The combination of a receptacle adapted to contain a pressure mediumand provided with openings, means for normally closing one of saidopenings, a plunger for actuating said means after a predeterminedperiod of time has elapsed to free said one opening and relieve thepressure in said receptacle and a slidable device on said plunger forvarying its operative length.

8. The combination of a container for a liquid, a receptacle in saidcontainer having two apertures and arranged to contain a pressure mediumadapted to control the entrance of the liquid in the container throughone aperture, means for normally closing the other aperture maintainedin position by the action of the pressure medium and arranged to beoperated against the action of said pressure medium to open said lastaperture and permit the pressure medium to escape and the said liquid tofreely enter the said receptacle, securing said receptacle in thecontainer.

9. The combination of a container for a liquid, a receptacle in saidcontainer having two apertures and arranged to contain a pressure mediumadapted to control the entrance of the liquid in the container throughone aperture, means for normally closing the other aperture and arrangedto be operated to open said last aperture and permit the pressure mediumto escape and the said liquid to freely enter the said receptacle andresilient arms for securing said receptacle in said container. I

10. The combination of a container for a liquid, a receptacle in saidcontainer having two apertures and arranged to contain a pressure mediumadapted to control the en trance of the liquid in the container throughone aperture, means for normally closing the other aperture and arrangedto be operated to open said last aperture and permit the pressure mediumto escape and the said liquid to freely enter the said receptacle andresilient means projecting above said receptacle to form a holder forthefood and to removably secure said receptacle in the container.

11. The combination of a container for a liquid, a receptacle in saidcontainer having two apertures and arranged to contain a pressure mediumadapted to control the entrance of the liquid in the container throughone aperture, a valve for closing the other aperture, a cylinder carriedby said receptacle and a plunger in said cylinder for operating saidvalve to permit the pressure medium to escape and the said liquid tofreely enter said receptacle.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing JOHN A. KEHLENBECK, G. V. RAsMUssEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

